Early in the summer (a long time ago) we talked about team basics (in the High Performance Leadership and Team Development group on LInkedIn) in a webinar posted in this group.
I wanted to share a 2 distinctions between a real team and a department that I think are important and fundamental.
In the majority of businesses and organizations today, people are hired into a job in a department - an accountant in Finance, an engineer in Design, a developer in I.T.
Departments, without any additional effort, are groups of people organized around a function. They may call themselves a team, others might refer to them as a team and they may practice teamwork.
However, they are not a "real team".
One distinction is that a real team will create their own purpose that is motivating and a call to action. They may even create a slogan or tagline that goes a long with it. It will align directly with the department's functional objectives and KPIs.
A second distinction is that within the team, the actual work done by each person will contribute to their purpose, which aligns with objectives and which may not align directly with their job description and yet the work will get done and get done well, likely above expectations.
These aspects of a real team are fundamental and required to release performance.
Would this approach work for you? Your organization?